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For high level awards, there are some separate databases that list the recipients and citations. Have you looked at those? E.g. https://valor.militarytimes.com/award/5

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I tried. No dice.

Thanks!

We had a friend of the family that is a general, looking, and he couldn't find anything.

The army certainly has records of the award, as he's buried in Arlington, and they sent us new versions of the medals for his flag case.

No records as to why he got the awards, though.

I don't think this db will help for cases where the only existing records were destroyed in the fire -- I don't believe they have independent sources, just the sources that everyone else has access to like government records. (Not 100% sure, though, maybe I missed something.)

If those were the only records, you're probably correct, but there are sources other than the national archives that can be used in some cases such that I'd still do a search, especially for high level awards like silver stars and up.

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